


I Will Always Find You

by PlantEm



Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Alternate Universe - Historical, Childhood Friends, Eventual Happy Ending, Eventual Smut, Fluff and Angst, Friends to Lovers, Historical Inaccuracy, M/M, Missing in Action, Soldiers
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-01-13
Updated: 2021-01-13
Packaged: 2021-03-17 09:14:12
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,941
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28722678
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/PlantEm/pseuds/PlantEm
Summary: Daichi stepped closer and reached out his hand towards Suga. Suga flinched away and Daichi withdrew. Beckoning him, Daichi led the way to the water pump at the back of the house. Soaking his hands in the clear lukewarm water, Daichi tentatively reached out and began to wet Suga’s face. Using his thumb Daichi scrubbed at the ash marks smeared across the blond boy. Daichi’s thumb was rough from hard work but it was gentle and careful, just barely making contact with Suga.Suga took a deep breath. “Thank you.” He whispered, leaning into Daichi’s ministrations. After Daichi finished wiping away the ash from Suga’s face, Suga looked into Daichi’s eyes.“Even though that wasn’t the best start. I would still like to take you on an adventure if you want.”Daichi smiled a timid smile and gave one small nod. “I’d like that very much.”___________________________________________________________________________the Haikyuu gang during WWII-era.
Relationships: Iwaizumi Hajime/Oikawa Tooru, Kozume Kenma/Kuroo Tetsurou, Sawamura Daichi/Sugawara Koushi
Kudos: 7





	I Will Always Find You

Suga was seven years old when a new family moved in down the block. Peeking through the slats of his fence, he saw an old red beat-up pickup truck rumble to a halt in from of the empty home. A man, tall, haggard and dirty came foot first out of the driver’s side. His coat was even more threadbare than the shirt Suga had on so he figured this man must be extra poor. The man, a cigarette dangling from his lips, stomped around to the passenger side and kicked the door twice. 

“Git out you lazy sack of shits,” he said in a low grating voice. The door creaked open and a timid mousy looking woman stepped out. Her shoulders were up at her ears as she held a struggling bundle of sackcloth and burlap. Her dress was dusty and dirty and looked to be 10 years too old. Suga looked from man to wife to bundle and felt his joy leave. A new family without any kids his age wasn’t very interesting to Suga at all. 

As he turned to leave and go back to helping his mother in the garden, Suga saw the red door open one more time. Out stepped a boy. This boy was ragged and dirty with dirt on his cheeks, pants and shirt. He wore one shoe more made of rope than fabric and his other bare foot shuffled in the dust on the road. Suga blinked. This boy looked like he could be interesting. Suga snuck closer scurrying from shrub to fence to see if this new boy would end up being a friend or a enemy. The boy looked up from his feet and caught Suga’s eye from behind his newest hiding place. Deep pools of brown latched onto hazel. 

“Dai.” The man barked. “Git over here and help her mam unpack you good for nothing lout.” The boy, Dai Suga thought, flinched and turned his back on Suga. 

“Yes sir.” Dai called and ran up the steps to the house, sole of his shoe flapping as he ran.

Suga stood up from behind the shrub and shook out his legs. Maybe, he thought, maybe this new kid could be fun. Turning on his heel, Suga jogged back over to where his mother knelt weeding in the vegetable patch. 

“Ma,” He exclaimed. “There’s a new boy moving in down the block. I think…I think we could end up being friends if he sticks around.” Suga wiggled his hands deep into the dirt and started massaged the earth. He loved the feeling of cool earth running between his fingers and over his knuckles. Grabbing handfuls of dirt, Suga brought them up to eye-height before releasing in in trickles to fall to join the garden below. 

“Kou darlin’, make sure you don’t upset the earthworms or ruin their hard work, they are helping us fix up this garden and make sure we have food on our table. The least we can do is to respect their space and thank them when we see them.” 

“Yes, Ma.” Suga replied. He let the final fistful of earth fall from his fingers and patted it down. “Thank you, Mr Worms!” With one last pat, he stood up, shook out his legs and skipped over to the front door. Pausing, he turned back. “Ma?” He asked, “could I put together something to take over to the new neighbours? They have a baby and it doesn’t seem like they have a whole lot.” 

Suga’s mother smiled. “Of course, dear. You can take anything you think we can spare.” She stood and held her arms out. “Come here, my child.” Suga ran down the front steps and leapt into his mother’s arms, twisting his hands into her apron strings. “I am so unbelievable proud of you my Koushi. Your heart will take you far.” With a final squeeze, she let him go and shooed him towards the house. “Go on, put together something nice and I’ll help you write a card when you finish.”

Suga skipped up the porch steps and opened the front door. Beaming from ear to ear, he took a deep breath. The smell of roast beef and gravy filled his nose. Humming, he walked into the kitchen and opened the icebox. Pulling out a can of pineapple, 4 eggs and a package of sausage links, Suga put it to the side and went further into his home. 

Basket in hand, Suga skipped out to his mother. “Ma, I finished putting together a basket for us!” He set it down beside her and began to pull out his findings. Beneath the food was a carefully folded blanket, an extra comb Suga had found and a set of homemade soap he had discovered in the back of the bathroom cabinet. “Ma, I had one more thing I wanted to add but I think I am going to keep it a surprise.”

Suga’s mother smiled and ruffled her son’s hair. “As long as you are sure we won’t need it, then feel free.” She stood and took her son’s hand. “Now, let’s go write a nice note welcoming them to the neighbourhood.”  
.  
.  
.  
Basket clutched in his clammy fist, Suga raised his hands and knocked on the red door of the neighbour’s house. Wiping his hand off on his trousers, he transferred the basket over to his other arm and shifted his weight from foot to foot. From inside the house, he heard footsteps thunder, as well as the slams of doors and cupboards. Suga looked down, knocked his heels together and turned to walk back down the porch stairs. Maybe they were busy getting moved in, he thought. He had just turned the corner to head down the pavement to his house when he heard the red door behind him open. 

“Get out, you good for nothing kid. Come back when you have learned your lesson,” The man yelled. Suga turned his head and saw the boy get pushed out of the house and the red door slam closed right behind him. The boy sniffled and rubbed his dirty hand across his even dirty face, tear tracks working their way down carving paths through the grime. The boy looked up and again locked eyes with Suga. Even covered in tears and dirt, with red-rimmed lids, the boy’s eyes were beautiful. Like melted pools of chocolate swirled in a pan. Suga blinked and timidly smiled. 

“Um. Hello. I saw that you moved in today and me and my ma put together a basket to welcome you to the neighbourhood.” Suga said quietly. He looked down at his bare feet rubbing in the dust and thrust the basket forward with both hands. “Ihopewecanbefriends.” He said in a rush, clenching his eyes shut tight. Suga waited. And waited. Finally, he opened one eye and tilted his head, looking up at the boy standing a few meters away from him. The boy was standing there, blinking slowly and staring at the basket in Suga’s outstretched hand. 

“Is…Is that for me?” the boy whispered quietly. Hand slowly reaching out towards the basket. He tentatively trailed one finger down the edge of the blanket that was spilling out. 

“Well, it’s for your whole family,” Suga said straightening up. “But that means it is for you too!” Suga set the basket down beside him as it became clearer that the boy wasn’t going to grab it. “My name is Sugawara Koushi, but you can just call me Suga,” he smiled. 

“I’m Sawamura Daichi. Please call me Daichi.” The boy murmured. “It’s nice to meet you Suga.” The boy stepped closer and stood a meter away from Suga, right out of arm’s reach, shifting his weight from foot to foot. “What’s…What’s in the basket?” He asked. 

Suga plopped down in the gateway and placed the basket on the ground in front of him. He beckoned Daichi closer and began to pull things out of the basket. “I found a blanket that I thought your baby sibling might like. It’s really soft. My ma made it when I was a baby.” Suga said as he handed the blanket to Daichi. He took the blanket in shaky hands and brought it up to his face. 

“It is soft,” Daichi murmured, closing his eyes and rubbing the blanket against his cheek. Suga blushed and looked back down at his basket. 

“Oh! I also added some food I found in our icebox and one of the matchbox cars I don’t play with quite as often anymore.” Suga explained as he pulled the items out and placed them one by one on the pavement beside Daichi. He was still slowly and methodically rubbing the blanket against his cheek. Suga paused. The last item sat at the bottom of the basket. “There’s one more thing in here and if you don’t want it, that’s fine.” Suga picked up the item and placed it on Daichi’s lap. “I got new shoes for school and thought you might want to use my old pair! I think you might have a little bit bigger feet than me but hopefully, these will fit.” Daichi blinked and looked at Suga. 

“New shoes?” he whispered, he touched them with a single finger and scrubbed the remaining dried tears off of his face. “Are you… are you sure? I’ve never had new shoes.” Daichi sniffled as a fresh stream of tears began to drip down his face. 

“Well… new to you I suppose,” Suga said. “I cleaned them up good before, so they’d look new.” Suga crouched and began to put things back into the basket. Carefully folding the blanket, he tucked in the corners and pushed the whole basket closer to Daichi. “I gotta get home. My Ma made dinner but do you wanna…” Suga took a deep breath. “Do you wanna play tomorrow maybe?” 

“I’d…I’d really like that,” Daichi mumbled, looking down at the ground. 

“Great!” Suga exclaimed! “I’ll come by tomorrow and show you all my favourite places!” He fully stood up, shook out his legs and took off down the road. If he had turned back, he would have seen Daichi, standing in the gateway, basket clutched in his grimy fists, a rare smile coming across his face.  
.  
.  
.  
Screen door slamming shut, Suga ran into his mother’s arms. She laughed and pulled him up to her hip. 

“Ma, I think he really liked the basket and his name is Sawamura Daichi but he told me to call him Daichi and he really seemed to like my surprise gift and I got him to kinda smile once and he’s kinda quiet but that’s okay.” Suga stopped his rambling and took a deep breath.

His mother laughed. “That’s lovely dear!” She smiled and shifted Suga over to her other arm. “I hope you and him can become good friends.” 

“Thanks Ma, I hope so too. I wanna see if I can get him to smile. He seems really serious.” With that, Suga wiggled down from his mother’s arms. “I gotta go repair my old shoes now so I can go out and show Daichi around.” 

“What happened to the new ones I bought you for school?” His mother asked with a furrow in her brow.

“Um…I must have misplaced them or something. I’ll keep looking.” Suga said with a blush high on his cheekbones.  
.  
.  
.  
Suga awoke the next morning with a smile already plastered on his face. He sat up in bed and looked over at the clock sitting beside his bed. 7:30 isn’t too early to ask someone to play, right? Breathing out a tiny sigh, Suga swung his legs down to the ground and stood stretching up to the ceiling, fingers spread wide. 

From his dresser, Suga pulled a pair of acceptably threadbare trousers, socks and a shirt. Clothes from previous years he had since outgrown that his mother had repurposed as play clothes. Pulling the shirt over his head and hopping into the trousers and socks, Suga made his way out of his room to the bathroom down the hall. Quickly brushing his teeth and relieving himself, Suga hurried through his morning routine and tried valiantly to comb down his hair. The effort – as it was every morning – was futile. 

The smell of oatmeal made Suga’s nose twitch and he made his hair obey to skip down to the kitchen. Grabbing a bowl and spoon from the cupboard, Suga set them down on the table before going over to the stove and wrapping his arms around his mother. 

“Smells good Ma.”

His mother smiled and shifted, displacing Suga’s hold. “Go on now, grab your bowl and let’s get you fed.” 

Suga smiled and quickly retrieved his bowl. Three large spoonsful of oatmeal plopped into the centre. A sprinkling of raisins and dried fruit floated onto like little islands. They hadn’t had any milk in days so Suga didn’t even bother to ask and instead smiled his thanks at his mother before tucking into the warm porridge. 

“Now remember sweetheart, you have to finish all your chores before you go over and pull Daichi along on one of your adventures.” Suga’s mother said with a twinkle in her eye. 

“Yes, Ma.”

Suga finished shovelling the oatmeal into his mouth. Taking the clean bowl, he placed it in the sink, kissed his mother on the cheek and went out to begin his daily chores.  
.  
.  
.  
The sun was high in the sky by the time Suga finished his final sweep of the porch steps. Wiping his brow and setting down the broom, Suga opened the backdoor to yell “Okay Ma, I’m going.” 

By the time the screen door closed, Suga was already across the yard running towards the Sawamura’s. 

The front gate swung shut behind him and he ran down the sidewalk until he reached the house with the red door. Jumping up the steps, he excitedly hammered on the door. The door swung open and instead of staring into the slightly dirty face of his new friend, Suga found himself looking up higher and higher until he was looking into the yellowing eyes of Daichi’s father. 

“What the hell do you want?” the man grunted. Cigarette loosely held in his lips. 

Suga’s knees quivered. “Um. Is Daichi home?” He said, a small shake in his voice. 

“Why the hell should I know?” The man grumbled as he flicked cigarette ash onto Suga. Suga flinched and let out a squeak, frantically brushing the hot ash off his shirt and his face. Suga trembled in the aftershocks, still rubbing at his face and shirt. Pushing back tears, Suga blinked as the door was firmly shut in his face. He stood in front of the now-closed red door and shook before finally regaining the strength to lift his feet. 

“I…I’m sorry.” A small voice whispered. Suga lifted his gaze from the door and looked over at the dirty looking boy standing at the edge of the porch. Daichi trailed one foot nervously up and down his shin. “I didn’t know when you were coming so I didn’t get to the door in time.” 

Daichi stepped closer and reached out his hand towards Suga. Suga flinched away and Daichi withdrew. Beckoning him, Daichi led the way to the water pump at the back of the house. Soaking his hands in the clear lukewarm water, Daichi tentatively reached out and began to wet Suga’s face. Using his thumb Daichi scrubbed at the ash marks smeared across the blond boy. Daichi’s thumb was rough from hard work but it was gentle and careful, just barely making contact with Suga. 

Suga took a deep breath. “Thank you.” He whispered, leaning into Daichi’s ministrations. After Daichi finished wiping away the ash from Suga’s face, Suga looked into Daichi’s eyes. 

“Even though that wasn’t the best start. I would still like to take you on an adventure if you want.” 

Daichi smiled a timid smile and gave one small nod. “I’d like that very much.”  
.  
.  
.  
Daichi and Suga’s block ended with an embankment leading down into a forested area filled with Birch and Poplar trees blocking out the sky. The home to badgers, deer, and the occasional cougar, this is where Suga spent most of his summer. He would chase birds, follow muskrats, and race leaf boats down the stream to watch it tip over the falls. A rail track cut through the woods and could be followed to the next town over. Walking from tie to tie like a travelling hero, breaking snakegrass swords and fighting every bush or tree that came across his path was a favourite adventure. 

Pulling Daichi by the hand, Suga led him around tree trunks, over roots, and boulders. Daichi would stumble every so often over the unfamiliar terrain but Suga’s steady and experienced hand kept him on his feet. Suga didn’t look back until he had pulled Daichi down the dirt part under the tressle to the lagoon under the falls. 

“So. What do you think?” Suga asked, finally turning to see Daichi’s face. 

All he saw was awe. Daichi spun in a slow circle, hands out to caress tree trunks, dirt and the water. He blinked as mist dusted his eyelashes. Birds swooped and twittered in the trees. Shrubs and bushes covered the hill they had just descended. 

“It’s…. it’s beautiful.” Daichi said, and for the first time, he smiled. His brown eyes crinkled there was a flash of white teeth. 

At that moment, Suga decided he would do everything he could to see that smile every day of his life.

**Author's Note:**

> Hi. This is NOT going to be historically accurate. It is based in Canada and I am 100% aware that people of Japanese descent were placed in internment camps during that time. I just want my boys to be heroes during my favourite time period to write about, okay? 
> 
> Updates will be infrequent as I am busy in school.


End file.
